A lift formula applied to low-Reynolds-number unsteady flows

A lift formula for a wing in a rectangular control volume is given in a very simple and physically lucid form, providing a rational foundation for calculation of the lift of a flapping wing in highly unsteady and separated flows at low Reynolds numbers. Direct numerical simulations on the stationary...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysics of fluids (1994) Vol. 25; no. 9
Main Authors Wang, Shizhao, Zhang, Xing, He, Guowei, Liu, Tianshu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.09.2013
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Summary:A lift formula for a wing in a rectangular control volume is given in a very simple and physically lucid form, providing a rational foundation for calculation of the lift of a flapping wing in highly unsteady and separated flows at low Reynolds numbers. Direct numerical simulations on the stationary and flapping two-dimensional flat plate and rectangular flat-plate wing are conducted to assess the accuracy of the lift formula along with the classical Kutta-Joukowski theorem. In particular, the Lamb vector integral for the vortex force and the acceleration term of fluid for the unsteady inertial effect are evaluated as the main contributions to the unsteady lift generation of a flapping wing.
ISSN:1070-6631
1089-7666
DOI:10.1063/1.4821520